Kodiak Announces Course, with Caveat

The UTMB World Series America’s Major is happening in just a couple of weeks and the final courses are still somewhat up in the air. There’s been some crumbling online around it (when is there no crumbing online about anything), but it is somewhat understandable as folks are traveling from far and have been training for a race where the course hasn’t been fully made public. Big changes in vert for example could really affect how someone approaches this race. And while these crumbling have been addressed at UTMB it’s important to get the full picture. This statement was just shared with me from the race director, Susie Schmelzer:

We know many of you have been waiting anxiously for course maps and we hear you. This year’s planning has been especially complex due to forest closures from last year’s Line Fire and other recent fire activity. These events have impacted the US Forest Service’s ability to process permits and provide timely feedback, despite our constant efforts and outreach.

With permission from the US Forest Service, we’ve now posted the proposed course maps and aid station charts on our website, along with a disclaimer noting that final approval is still pending. We’re optimistic, however there could be minor changes. We’ll update the site as soon as we receive confirmation, and it’s important that everyone returns to review the final approved routes and details before race day. The Runner Guide will also be published shortly. To avoid possible confusion with multiple versions, we will wait to publish the Runner Guide until the final route is approved.

We’ve recently come to understand that some saw the delay in US Forest Service approvals as a possible sign of cancellation. That concern hadn’t occurred to us and while we’ve continued sharing the updates we had and adding race details to the website throughout this process, we now see how even a quick ‘still moving forward’ message could have helped ease concerns. We’ll be more mindful of that going forward.

Our team is focused on finalizing the remaining logistics and bringing everything together to create an incredible race experience. We’re excited to welcome you to Big Bear soon and can’t wait to share the trails we’ve been working so hard to secure.

It’s a tricky balancing act race directors play. After all the chances of the a race happening on public lands is at the mercy of the land owners, and while it would be easy and true to just “blame the bureaucracy” – and lately this may be true more than ever – it’s also not very conducive to the relationship of the organization trying to obtain a permit from said land manager.

Transparency with the runners who are preparing to race an event and have flights and hotels booked is also insanely important and I can see how we collectively as a sport will have to come to terms with these new uncertainties. This is the kind of “growing up” we rarely talk about in our sport, but it will need to happen.